EGCF is currently reviewing proposals for 2008. We intend to invest in 4 new projects with focus on expanding our 'Education and Literacy' program area. At this time we are still accepting Letters of Inquiry. Please check back soon for announcements on 2008 support and new projects.
MICROFINANCE AND MICROENTERPRISE
In 2007, EGCF will partner with ACCION International to support the implementation of a business training program in Brazil and India called the ABC's of Business, which consists of 50 business training modules translated in appropriate languages. These courses help the recipients of micro-loans grow their small enterprises more efficiently and effectively. In 2006, the program trained 89,000 participants, 57% of which were women.
EDUCATION AND LITERACY
In 2007, EGCF will partner with an organization called Building with Books (BwB). Internationally, BwB works in some of the poorest countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean, where literacy rates are low and poverty is endemic. BwB has worked with rural villagers in countries including Bolivia, Brazil, Haiti, India, Malawi, Mali, Nepal, and Nicaragua to build over 200 schoolhouse projects for their own communities, providing quality education to more than 85,000 children and adults in the developing world. Out-of school villagers benefit from BwB's adult education programs which take place in the evenings in the BwB school that the community helped to build. EGCF will sponsor the construction of a new school in Nicaragua, which will take approximately 2 ½ months to build with local community participation.
EARLY CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH EMPOWERMENT
In 2007, EGCF is supporting a partnership with CARE USA to sponsor a new initiative in Guatemala. This project will launch “mobile schools” in 5 areas of rural Guatemala to train Mayan girls ages 13-18, in leadership skills, civic participation, and small-scale income generating activities. They will also be trained to become young leaders, by learning how to train other youth in their community.
SUSTAINABLE ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH
This area has many innovative opportunities for support and EGCF will be exploring different partnerships under this program area as the foundation grows. For 2007, EGCF is launching a partnership with Conservation International, CI , to support the Tetepare Scholarship Fund in the Solomon Islands. As the largest uninhabited island in the South Pacific, Tetepare's pristine Rainforest has been untouched for over a century and represents a key conservation target of intact forests, coral reefs, mangroves, and beaches. In 2003, the indigenous landowners of Tetepare formed an organization, TDA, to protect Tetepare from the imminent commercial logging that has taken most of the country's remaining rainforests. In return for the significant income forgone from choosing conservation over logging, CI along with other outside organizations are forging economic incentives to create tangible benefits for TDA members in 14 villages. Key among the incentives is a program that provides educational scholarships for children unable to afford school fees. With offers from logging companies ever-present, maintaining the scholarship program is key to overall program success. In this way, advancing a child's welfare also achieves sustainable conservation of a rare ecosystem and natural resource.
Please check back regularly for updates and interesting field stories from these and other projects.
